Friday, May 27, 2011

Now what?

So you may be wondering how I plan to get out of the funk I can't seem to shake surrounding my art and Etsy shop. Well I'm always big on plans and I've started an epic one that I hope I can maintain and find useful. I've taken on the task of doing "The Artist's Way" 12-week course. This is something I've thought about doing for years and haven't done. I was always used the excuse that it was always being borrowed at the library. The truth is that I've always been afraid to do it.

I was talking to a friend of mine and I mentioned that I might close my shop and maybe do this course. Of course the said friend, who is also an artist, had the book and said she would lend it to me. I had forgotten that years previously she said she was doing the book and was finding it very helpful to overcome her fears and anxieties about being an artist. "It will break you but it will be so worth it". I've been lucky to see first-hand how confronting your own thoughts and insecurities can help you grow as a person . The friend I'm talking about is Danielle Krysa who writes the fantastic and inspirational blog The Jealous Curator. This blog began as a way for Danielle to get past her jealousy of other artist's and their abilities and really talk about them in a way of admiration and inspiration. If you haven't seen the blog yet you should. Danielle talks with such an authentic voice and finds such amazing artists that the blog has taken off like wild-fire. She's gone from feeling "not good enough" to loving her day and the ability she has to make some other art lover's day.
Danielle has seen me a couple times with tears in my eyes about my frustration around not yet "succeeding" as an artist and she is always compassionate. I'm lucky to have her there as someone who understands that my soul goes into my art and it doesn't feel like it's being acknowledged. I KNOW that she knows what that's like. Thanks so much Danielle. : )
Can I count this as one of my Artist Way thank-you letters to one of my Champions? Please do.
So far I've been able to keep up with the course. I'll write here about every once in a while to let you know what it's been like for me. Have you done the course? Did you find it helpful?